Chief Executive Lee Scott, Susan Chambers, executive vice president of risk management and benefits, and other executives, told women's advocates that they would be willing to discuss compensation issues.

"We want to initiate a dialog on how they can assess women's vs. men's pay in a meaningful way and if they find disparities, to get rid of them," said Martha Burk, director at the National Council on Women's Organizations.

Burk, who presented the equity compensation proposal at Wal-Mart's
WMT, -0.68%
annual meeting Friday, met with Scott the day before in Bentonville, Ark., to put the issues on the table. Though Burk - known for leading the effort to open the Augusta National Golf Club to women - has challenged Wal-Mart on the compensation issue before, it was her first meeting with Scott.

That Scott would meet with her, along with Robin Leeds of the Responsible Wealth group of affluent business people, underscores the company's push to clean up its image. The proposal garnered only 9.6% of the shareholder vote.

Besides Chambers, others from Wal-Mart included Aida Alvarez, a former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, who was just elected to the board and is replacing Jose Villarreal on the board's compensation committee. Villarreal was at the meeting as was Charlyn Jarrels Porter, Wal-Mart's chief diversity officer.

"I told them that they have long exhibited very much of a bunker mentality and that I hoped that was changing," Burk said. "They assured me that it had." Wal-Mart executives were unavailable for comment.

She said that the two sides did not discuss specifics, but agreed to talk about ways in which Wal-Mart can address compensation issues fairly. She thinks meetings could begin by the end of the summer.

"It was a cordial meeting, not in any way adversarial," she said.

Beyond pay, Burk is looking to see what kind of stock options and grants are given to women. "I want to see how women are paid and promoted relative to men and what is their ability to participate in the fringe-benefits package," she said.

"They are, by and large, still paid less than men," she said.

The first step, she said is to see the "nitty gritty" of what Wal-Mart is "actually doing."

Women make up about 60% of Wal-Mart's associates, according to the company. About 30% of employees are people of color.

Leeds said Scott was "amazingly open" at the meeting, but said the bully image is hard to shake. "Is it window dressing or is it real," she said. "We'll find out soon enough."

Wal-Mart's employment policies have come under close scrutiny in recent years over issues of pay, charges of discrimination and hiring of illegal immigrants, and its health-benefits packages, among others.

The company is asking a federal court to reverse a lower court's ruling last August that would allow up to 1.6 million female workers to seek - through a class action - compensation for discrimination. The suit, called Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, was filed in 2001 by six current and former female employees who charged that Wal-Mart discriminated against them for promotions, job assignments, pay decisions and training, and that women who complained were fired.

On Thursday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wal-Mart agreed to pay $315,000 to settle two sexual harassment cases in Bradenton, Fla. Last year, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle a federal sweep that found hundreds of illegal immigrants cleaning its stores.

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